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Sunday, May 8, 2016

Mother's Day Once More

Mother's Day is always tricky. This year it felt like less of an event, which is saying something. I interviewed Zuzu and then read into Zuzu's answer to number 9, which made me want to cry, but otherwise it was an okay day. Good, even. My parents were in town, and I gave my mom a Vera Bradley wallet and wristlet and keychain that my brother and I went in together on. The girls made me cute things at school and David evidently got me something that hasn't come in yet... (so mysterious!).

One really nice part of the weekend was going out to dinner on Saturday. We met up with my friend Christine and her husband and we all had pizza and then walked and got ice cream. It was a nice evening, and it felt right to spend part of the night before Mother's Day talking about Eliza and about Christine's son, Matthew.

It is no exaggeration to say that I'm not sure I could have survived the past five years without the community of baby lost mamas who became real friends. It was crucial for me to connect with mamas who were on similar timelines to me, but it also helped me a lot to talk with women who were a few years ahead in their journey. While they couldn't ever promise me that everything would be okay for me, they could give me a glimpse of what it was like to live a life that has space for sorrow and happiness both, without letting the former diminish the latter. I know that people in the early days of their grief still stumble across this blog, and I hope it's something that I can do for other people.

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In keeping with Where I Am Now, I saw these questions when Cup of Jo linked them from here and decided to interview Zuzu (who will turn four in less than two months!) to see what she had to say about Mommy. I abbreviated the list slightly. (Lauren at Crumbbums also interviewed her three sons and their answers are funny, too.) Her answers are sometimes accurate (#3), sometimes flattering (#15), sometimes revealing painful truths (#12), and sometimes exactly right (#17), and sometimes bizarre (I am not sure that Zuzu has ever seen me climb a tree, but I definitely used to be pretty damn good at it...).

4. How does mommy make you laugh?Tickles me!
5. What was your mommy like as a child?Grammy!

6. How old is Mommy?Fifteen

7. How tall is Mommy?one hundred
8. What is her favorite thing to do?See Megan. (Megan is my good friend from work.)

9. What does your mommy do when you're not around?Cry
10. What is your mommy really good at?climbing trees
11. What is your mommy not very good at?I don't know
12. What does your mommy do for a job?clean up the floors

13. What is your mommy's favorite food?sandwiches
14. What makes you proud of your mom?trees (laughs)

15. If your mommy were a character, what character would she be?Elsa
16. What do you and your mommy do together?We do our game with squares (amatching game)

17. How do you know your mommy loves you?Because you love me!
18. Why does Mommy love Daddy?Because you're married.
19. Where is your mommy's favorite place to go?A party.
20. How old was your mommy when you were born?You were grown up and you were sixteen.* * *
My other plans for Mother's Day this year? Finish writing the final exams I'm giving tomorrow (I'm supposed to be doing that now...). Do some more laundry. Put kids to bed early and watch Trainwreck. And flip through Lovable Livable Home and map out some summer projects/plans. Not too bad for a Sunday in May.
It would have been nice to get a preview of this year's Mother's Day when I was in such a sad place in May of 2011. (The hardest part of rereading this post is seeing how hard I was working to try to give myself a pep talk.)

Or pregnant and fearful in May of 2012. (My favorite part of this post? Why do we need a stupid day for smug people who had living babies and now demand breakfast in bed and jewelry and gift certificates on top of it. Really? Because your LIVE baby isn't enough? You want PRESENTS also, you selfish wench?)

Here's what I wrote about it--and the grief trigger of rubber duckies--in May of 2013.

7 comments:

Mark and I had so much fun at dinner and are so thankful for you and David's friendship. It was honestly the total highlight of my weekend, and I hate to think about how my weekend would have looked otherwise. As expected, Sunday was pretty blah... Though it could have been much worse. I'm glad you had fun at the Botanical Gardens - sounds like a good tradition :)

I know just what you mean about it being less of an event. It's not so much the grief trigger it once was but it's not as happy as it should be/could be, either.

Preschoolers are so random. I was making a sign for Lucas' last day of preschool tomorrow (GAH!) and asked him what he wants to be when he grows up and he thinks saying Candy Cane is hysterical. I even tried to lead him into a candy cane maker, but no, a candy cane.

I hope you have a nice last week and hopefully we can get together soon!